UF/IFAS Ordway-Swisher Biological Station

External Data Portals

About the external data portals

The Station participates in a number of external research/education data portals. Researchers and educators that utilize the station place various samples collected onsite into these online databases. Data on these portals allow investigators to access a large diverse array of data collected all over the world. Below are the primary networks that OSBS participates in.

Primary Networks:

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National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON)

OSBS serves as the Southeastern domain core site for NEON's ecological observation network. NEON, Inc. is an independent 501(c)(3) corporation created by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to manage large-scale ecological observing systems and experiments on behalf of the scientific community. NEON’s goal is to contribute to global understanding and decisions in a changing environment using scientific information about continental-scale ecology obtained through integrated observations and experiments. For more information regarding NEON and to search its databases for OSBS data, please visit their website at www.neondata.org.

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Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio)

Much of OSBS’s voucher specimens are being included into the Integrated Digitized Biocollections (iDigBio), the National Resource for Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections (ADBC) funded by the National Science Foundation. OSBS’s contributions are being organized and managed through the Florida Museum of Natural History. For more information on IDGBIO and to search for OSBS data, please visit their website at www.idigbio.org.

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Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLD)

The Station’s plant collections are stored at the Florida Museum of Natural History’s Herbarium. Efforts to include species DNA barcode are also ongoing and can be accessed through the Barcode of Life Database (BOLD). BOLD is an informatics database aiding the acquisition, storage, analysis, and publication of DNA barcode records. For more information and to search BOLD for OSBS data, please visit their website at www.boldsystems.org.

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VertNet

VertNet is a NSF-funded collaborative project designed to help people discover, capture, and publish biodiversity data. It is also the core of a collaboration between hundreds of biocollections that contribute biodiversity data and work together to improve it. VertNet is an engine for training current and future professionals to use and build upon best practices in data quality, curation, research, and data publishing. Its goal is to design, implement, and maintain a cloud-based computing strategy to create a fast, sustainable, and scalable data platform with capabilities and applications for data discovery, data quality improvement, and visualization that go beyond those of the current networks. For more information regarding VertNet and to search its databases for OSBS data, please visit their website at www.vertnet.org.